Research Areas
Human Rights and Social Justice
The current and future projects of this group cut across themes of indigeneity, social justice and equity for (ex-) prisoners, security and human rights, mobility rights and speech rights.
Group projects in the area of social policy and human rights include: the human rights of prisoners with mental health disorders and cognitive disability, social justice issues for people in public housing, social justice and indigenous people, older people and marginality in the urban sector, with a focus on comparing older people in public housing with private renters; and indigenous politics and activism in Australia.
Other projects work at the intersection of security, policing and human rights, including: the impact of security policy and ideas on the enjoyment of human rights, especially for people in civil conflict, asylum seekers and in the realm of civil liberties in the ‘war on terror’; the use of force, in particular the impact of military activities on civilians, and the ability of international humanitarian law to be enforced by international courts or states; the policing of migration, especially onshore migration policing networks in Australia; securing political speech freedoms in Australia; the regulation of hate speech; and speech freedoms in insecure times.
Its members are: Eileen Baldry, Dr Katharine Gelber, Richard Hugman, Dr Sarah Maddison, Alan Morris, Eileen Pittaway, Leanne Weber
International Relations and Security
This group carries out research on contemporary problems in global security and politics, including the politics of international law, Northeast Asian politics and security, Southeast Asian politics and security, global political economy, global governance, Australian foreign policy, economic security, refugees and asylum seekers, Russian politics, China, terrorism and counter-terrorism, human rights, international relations and political theory and critical security studies.
Its members are: Marc Williams, Roger Bell, Shirley Scott, Elizabeth Thurbon, Claudia Tazreiter, You Ji, Andrew Tan, Ruth Balint (School of History and Philosophy), Stephen Fortescue
Criminology
Criminology – broadly defined as the study of crime, deviance, criminal justice policies and institutions – is an area of research strength in FASS and also across different Faculties at UNSW. It is a part of the Crime and Justice Research (CJR) Network, which has been active in bringing researchers together around specific interests (see http://www.cjrn.unsw.edu.au).
Its members include: Chris Cunneen, the NewSouth Global Professor of Criminology who is jointly appointed to FASS and LAW; Eileen Baldry, Jan Breckenridge, Janet Chan, Rogelia Pe-Pua, Helen Pringle, Don Weatherburn (Adjunct Professor) and Leanne Weber in the School of Social Science and International Studies. It links via the CJR network with David Brown, Anne Cossins, David Dixon, Gary Edmond, Sandra Egger, Jill Hunter and Andrew Lynch in the Faculty of Law.
Organisations and Policy
Organisations and Policy is a research field devoted to investigating how organizations of various types (public and private, corporate and non-profit) make and advance socially significant policy. It requires as a generic skill a capacity to analyse how policy issues arise and are responded to, as well as the capacity to apply that skill to specific areas of policy specialisation.
Its members include: Hal Colebatch, Michael Pusey, Stephen Fortescue, Michael Johnson, Elizabeth Thurbon, Sarah Maddison, Stephen Healy, Chris Walker
Political Theory, Political Philosophy and Legal Theory
This group works across the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences and Law on normative issues such as multiculturalism, individual autonomy, pornography, free speech, asylum, indigenous rights, feminism and sexual difference, the political philosophy of security, war and peace, and on the work of a number of Anglo-American and Continental political thinkers. Other projects include normative issues related to the rule of law, constitutionalism, migration, and religion, as well as the work of some influential jurisprudents.
Its members are: Geoffrey Brahm Levey, Helen Pringle, Paul Patton (School of History and Philosophy), Rosalyn Diprose (School of History and Philosophy), Claudia Tazreiter, and Martin Krygier and Adam Czarnota (Faculty of Law).
Social Policy and Social Wellbeing
This grouping in the area of social work focuses on social wellbeing and social need, which encompasses social and economic dimensions, physical and psychological health, education, spirituality, and human behaviour and development. UNSW researchers identify factors that threaten the life chances of vulnerable and oppressed groups and build knowledge to underpin responses that promote their autonomy, self-determination, resilience, social wellbeing and social capacity in order to promote excellence in human service responses.
Projects include the mental well-being of prisoners post-release, vulnerable children and families, social responses to aging and professional ethics, gender-related violence, family therapy practice and family resilience, aged care, mental health, and coping with stress in extreme environments such as emergency work and war.
Its members are: Eileen Baldry, Carmel Flaskas, Jan Breckenridge, Elizabeth Fernandez, Lesley Hughes, Michael Wearing
